Krishna Pal’s story is remarkable in itself. He was a Hindu carpenter, but by divine providence, he fell and broke his arm. As a consequence of which he was treated by Dr. John Thomas, a colleague of William Carey. Thomas witnessed to Pal of his own faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and preached the gospel to him. Krishna Pal was gloriously converted, and subsequently baptised in the mighty Ganges River by William Carey, on the 28th of December 1800. He went on to preach the gospel himself for 20 years, and became an ‘Ambassador for Christ’ to his own people.
The text of this great hymn is:
O thou, my soul, forget no more
The Friend Who all thy misery bore;
Let every idol be forgot,
But, O my soul, forget Him not.
Jesus for thou a body takes,
Thy guilt assumes, thy fetters breaks,
Discharging all thy dreadful debt;
And canst thou e’er such love forget?
Renounce thy works and ways, with grief,
And fly to this most sure relief;
Nor Him forget, who left His throne,
And for thy life gave up His own.
Infinite truth and mercy shine,
In Him, and He Himself is thine:
And canst thou, then, with sin beset,
Such charms, such matchless charms, forget?
Ah! no—till life itself depart,
His Name shall cheer and warm my heart;
And lisping this, from earth I’ll rise;
And join the chorus of the skies.
Ah! no—when all things else expire,
And perish in the general fire,
This name all others shall survive,
And through eternity shall live.
There are quite a number of helpful sites with much more information about Krishna Pal, and I mention but three for your further interest.
1: Krishna Pal – An article written in the Evangelical Times by Philip Grist.
2: Krishna Pal : First Baptist convert to Christianity in India – This can be found on a truly wonderful, must see, resource at the ‘Center for Sudy of the Life and work of William Carey, D.D. (1761-1834).
3: Krishna Pal’s “O Thou My Soul, Forget No More” – A downloadable .pdf file, available on the website of Baylor University, a private Christian University in the United States of America.